Human relationships to private green in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires.

MADANES N.; FAGGI A.

Erfurt - Alemania

Conferencia; Urban Biodiversity & Design; 2008

Convention on Biological Diversity

Private gardens enrich the character of a surrounding neighbourhood, contributing to the attractiveness of an area. Their importance increases in highly build up areas where gardens represent almost the only contact people has with nature. Argentina is increasingly urbanized, with two third of the population living in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. The metropolis has insufficient parks or green places so that the existence of private domestic gardens contributes to diminish that shortage. In this contribution we explored the relationship between private green areas and people using different indicators. Sixty questionnaires were performed and compared by the ÷ 2 test .The written survey included questions about garden area, number and name of growing plants, purchase and care. Another set of items collected background data for respondents and their households, including age, gender, occupation, number of household residents and income. The garden flora consisted predominantly of cultivated exotics, ranging between 1 and 50. Women were very much fond of plants as men. They knew more about botanical names and plant care, furthermore their gardens were richer. This difference was higher in the 41-60 age range, by housekeepers and employees and in the group of no single living persons. Differences in gender were found in the assemblage of respondents with low middle income.